Marine attached to Pendleton unit dies in Iraq

CAMP PENDLETON -- A 24-year-old lance corporal fighting with
Camp Pendleton troops has died in the war, the Pentagon announced
Friday.

Lance Cpl. Kurt E. Dechen, of Springfield, Vt., died Thursday
from combat wounds he suffered in Anbar province, according to the
Defense Department. He was a member of the Massachusetts-based 1st
Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division. He was
attached to Regimental Combat Team 5 of the I Marine Expeditionary
Force based at Camp Pendleton.

He is one of more than 300 Marines with local units to die in
Iraq since the start of the war. As of Friday morning, 2,585 U.S.
service members had died in the war.

Also Friday, the Pentagon announced that a Coronado-based Navy
SEAL was killed Wednesday in Iraq. Petty Officer 2nd Class Marc A.
Lee, 28 of Hood River, Ore., was killed in combat in the city of
Ramadi, according to the Defense Department.